SPEAKERS

Alex Naraian is a Chartered Architectural Technologist, and CIAT’s 28th President. A committed contributor to academia, Alex was awarded an Honorary Fellowship of Southampton Solent University in July 2016.

Alex is an Associate Director at Ascot Design – a CIAT Group Membership Scheme member practice and a RIBA Chartered Practice. It has a staff of 45. In this role he is responsible for Architectural Technology and the technical delivery of the business. Ascot Design works with both private clients and developers on projects ranging from one-off ‘high end’ residences to multi-unit residential developments, commercial, leisure, retail, recreational and educational projects. The business provides urban design/masterplanning services, architectural services as well as 3d CGI graphics and is able to deliver projects from concept through to completion, handover and beyond.

Architectural Technology of the highest standards is of the utmost importance to Alex, an ethos shared and embedded into the culture at Ascot Design.

Previously Alex has served as Councillor and Chairman for the South-East UK Region of CIAT and was instrumental in developing the Institute’s current five-year Strategic Plan.

As part of his commitment to education, he has sat on various CIAT Accreditation panels for universities offering Honours Degree programmes in Architectural Technology.

He continues to speak publicly on a variety of subjects both nationally and internationally at universities, exhibitions and events, such as UK Construction Week and the Homebuilding and Renovating Show. He has also sat on steering groups for leading exhibitions and as an author, his articles have appeared in various industry publications.

He has spent ten years in the construction industry and in the later stages of his practicing career owned his own design and build practice, prior to entering academia. Since then he has remained both research and practice active, publishing at an international level; project leading on externally funded research projects, chairing panels at international conferences, referring international journals and undertaking PhD supervisions and examinations; most of which are based on real build projects and case studies. Along with academic duties he is also practising by undertaking design consultancy, specialising in the areas of sustainable urban design, masterplanning and low energy buildings design.

He was a member of the original team that attained then BIAT Accreditation in Principle for the architectural technology course in 1996, and was Development Director for CIAT Centre of Excellence Accreditation in 2013, becoming Centre of Excellence Leader thereafter. He also was active in the organisation of the first International BIAT Conference on Innovation in Design and Construction in 2003, at the British Museum. He is a member of both the CIAT Education Board and the Research Group and is an interview assessor for candidates seeking to qualify as Chartered Architectural Technologists. He continues to be active in CIAT and is a firm advocate of Architectural Technologists’ education, in particular of a constructivist pedagogic approach and project-based learning in relation to the technical studio design provision.

He is currently Programme Leader for MSc in Sustainable Architecture and Healthy Buildings and for MSc in BIM and Project Collaboration. He also is a Director of Study for six PhD students. For further information, please visit https://www.derby.ac.uk/staff/boris-ceranic/

Gordon Chisholm MCIAT MRIAIWaterford Institute of Technology

Gordon Chisholm is a Chartered Architectural Technologist, Architect and Certified Passive House Designer with over 25 years’ experience in low energy design of domestic and commercial projects in Scotland, Ireland and Poland.

Gordon is a principal member of the team that is integrating Building Information Modelling Management (BIM) within the School of Engineering at Waterford Institute of Technology (WIT) in the Republic of Ireland. He has taken a lead role over the last 14 years in teaching and developing the BSc (Hons) Architectural and BIM Technology programme in the Department of Architecture.

Gordon is a founding member of the BIM Collective Research Group at WIT, a multi-disciplinary team of Virtual Reality designers, Architectural Technologists and, established in 2013 to develop industry-academia links for applied research and the adoption of BIM across the architectural, engineering, construction and facility operations (AECO) industry. The BIM Collective has worked with over 80 companies to date, developing tailored solutions for their unique requirements.

Across practice, teaching and research, Gordon has participated in, presented and published a variety of BIM projects and research papers both nationally and internationally.

Prof. Iyer has been the Chairperson of SoDA, MAHE – Dubai since 2004. He pursued his PhD Studies at the Welsh School of Architecture, Cardiff University, UK (2011-18). His PhD, titled ‘Classification of the approaches to learning adopted by students of architecture in their design coursework,’ (http://orca-mwe.cf.ac.uk/id/eprint/113255) looked into students’ approaches to learning within pedagogical research in architectural education.

An architect by profession, he has pursued his architectural studies at Sir J.J. College of Architecture, Mumbai; India (M. Arch, 2004) and at Pillais’ College of Architecture, Navi Mumbai; India (B. Arch, 1997); in addition to a Diploma in Indian Aesthetics (2001) from the Department of Philosophy, University of Mumbai.

He was a faculty at Sir J.J. College (2002-04) & Rizvi College of Architecture (1999-2002), Mumbai; India before establishing interior design & architecture programs at SoDA, MAHE-Dubai in 2004. In addition to historic documentation of the built environment, conservation management and urban studies, his other research interests include issues of sustainability in contemporary architecture, fine arts and critical theory. His ongoing research with Sharjah Museums Authority, Government of Sharjah has resulted in two formal exhibitions in 2015 and 2017 at Al Mahatta Museum.

As the academic and administrative head for School of Design & Architecture (SoDA), he has developed and launched new programs, and created an interface between academia and industry with a focus on research and development with specific emphasis on design consultancy. His strategic initiatives includes interface with approval bodies including the Council of Architecture (CoA) – New Delhi, India and UQAIB – DIAC, in Dubai, UAE. He was worked to on the Accreditation the (B. Arch) Bachelor of Architecture from the Chartered Institute of Architectural Technologists. Ashok has been involved in planning and execution of co-curricular activities including international meets, workshops, field trips, study tours and placements and internships for students and graduates of the School. He has facilitated faculty and professional development programs as a part of the faculty well-being initiative of MAHE – Dubai.

His hobbies include stamp and coin collecting, fountain pens and sketching.

Joe Healey MCIAT

Joseph gained 12 years postgraduate architectural experience after completing his Architectural Studies degree at Nottingham University. He then spent 8 years in London with EPR Architects and DMP Architects working on historical London developments, a stadium conversion and business parks.

He moved to Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, in 2014 where he worked as a Technical Coordinator with Gensler. These projects included hotel and residential mega-projects. During his time in UAE he was Councillor for CIAT’s Middle East and Africa Centre.

Joseph’s role as a Chartered Architectural Technologist has given him experience in all stages of a project as well as feasibility and client investigations, conceptual designs and marketing information, design development and technical project stages, and on-site experience in London and Dubai.

Joseph left UAE at the end of 2018 and intends to be involved in CIAT development in his next to-be-confirmed location.

William Holland has over 7 years of experience within Architectural Technology, in a wide range of projects spanning the full spectrum from residential to commercial, working with local and multinational brands. William started his professional career after graduating from Ulster University in 2015 with an Honours degree in the CIAT accredited BSc Architectural Technology & Management programme.

William began working at Architectural Design Partnership (a CIAT-registered practice) during his placement year at university, securing a full-time position within the Partnership upon graduation and has since progressed within the practice to an Associate Partner.

William’s specialism lies in Healthcare Design, working closely with Northern Ireland’s Regulation and Quality Improvement Authority (RQIA) and other statutory bodies to deliver functional and compliant care and medical facilities. William leads design teams from conception to completion on site to ensure efficiency, collaboration and compliance with CDM regulations. William’s understanding of the RQIA standards, policies and clients’ requirements ensures that designs are both functional and commercially viable.

William attained Chartered status with CIAT in August 2017, and since then he has become the Regional CPD Officer for the Northern Ireland Regional Committee and has recently been elected as the Region’s Councilor, which will take effect in November 2019. Being an active member of the Region, William has organised many CPD and social events among his peers. He has raised money and awareness for charitable organisations that have a direct impact on Architectural Technologists such as The Architects Benevolent Society.

William took up his position as Chairperson for aspirATion Northern Ireland in 2013 while studying for his degree. He has been a key contributor to growing the group substantially since conception working alongside industry leading companies to connect students with employers and to create networking opportunities.

William speaks regularly at Ulster University and local colleges, promoting careers in Architectural Technology, and communicates the importance of progression within CIAT from student to Chartered Membership.

Justin Kelly MCIAT RIBABPTW

Justin is a partner at BPTW, an award winning CIAT registered design-led architectural studio of over 125 Architectural Technologists and Architects based in Greenwich, London.

BPTW brings together specialisms in architecture and planning. For over 30 years, innovation in design, planning, sustainability and construction technologies has established BPTW’s reputation as experts in residential development, neighbourhood place-making and mixed-use regeneration.

Justin studied at DIT in Dublin and Liverpool John Moore’s University, He is both a Chartered Architectural Technologist and Architect leading many successful large scale residential and mixed use projects within the UK.

Justin manages a large team of BPTW’s Architects and Architectural Technologists and, over the years, through project delivery, has developed working relationships with many of BPTW’s contractor and developer clients.

He previously lived and worked in Rotterdam. Justin has gained experience on various residential led developments in both Rotterdam and Amsterdam and completed a Diploma in Sustainable Urban Design from the International Institute for the Urban Environment in Delft, the Netherlands.

Since 2009 Justin has been an examiner at the Architects Registration Board. He is also currently the Secretary at the RIBA South East London Society of Architects (SELSA) Branch and a Professional Interview Assessor for CIAT.

Additionally, Justin is actively involved in business development, management and recruitment strategies within the practice. He is regularly involved in internal and external communications including office wide presentations, CPDs and staff updates, client and public design presentations, OJEU bid presentations as well as formal presentations at Planning Committees.

Jaffer AA Khan RIBA FRSA MRAIAArchitect

Jaffer is a Gold medal winner in Architecture from the University of Madras in 1983. He was awarded the prestigious Aga Khan Scholarship from Geneva to do his post graduate qualification (M.Sc Arch) specialising in Environmental Design and Engineering at the Bartlett School of Architecture and Planning, University of London in 1985. The same year he was awarded the Herbert Henry Bartlett Scholarship. He obtained his Ph.D in 2017 from RMIT University, Melbourne Australia invited under the Practice Research Symposium programme initiated by Professor Leon Van Schaik AO.

He established his practice in India in 1985 and later set up in Singapore and Auckland. He has designed more than 300 buildings through three decades of international practice and many projects were award-winning at national and international level. His projects have been widely published and were nominated for the Aga Khan Award during the 1995 cycle.

Jaffer is a prolific writer, critic and an academic as well as being a practitioner, having written articles on Environment, Heritage and Philosophy. From 2011 to 2015 he was the Founder Professor and Director of MIDAS-Marg Institute of Design and Architecture Swarnabhoomi Chennai, affiliated to Anna University where he established a unique architecture programme making the school a trailblazer within a short period of time.

He is a member of some of the world’s most prestigious professional bodies including The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), he is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (RSA) and The Royal Australian Institute of Architects (RAIA).

He presently lives and practises in New Zealand where he is involved in an independent studio at Spatial Design, School of Art and Design AUT and at the School of Architecture at the University of Auckland. He is a registered architect in New Zealand and India and has studios undertaking projects in these countries. He now serves as senior faculty member at Dar Al Hekma University in Jeddah running studios for the M.Arch programme. He is also an Adjunct Professor of Architecture at VIT University in India visiting regularly to mentor the architecture programme.

Jaffer has travelled extensively and has developed international connections through professional and academic associations which leads to organising workshops, masterclasses and design charrettes enriching profession and academia.

* Correction – this text stated Jaffer was a member of CIAT but this is not correct. It has been amended.

Paul has worked in architectural practice all of his working life culminating in the establishment of his own practice in 1989. He also provided administration and technical services to a number of trade associations in the UK and Europe through his company Newman Administration Services Ltd.

Paul was President of the Society of Architectural and Associated Technicians and the British Institute of Architectural Technicians from 1984 to 86, both precursors to CIAT. During his Presidency he was responsible for the formation of the first centres in Hong Kong and Ireland. He is a long serving member of CIAT and is an interview assessor for candidates seeking to qualify as Chartered Architectural Technologists.

From 1991 to 1999 Paul was Director General of a major trade association operating in the European roofing industry and he led the industry’s successful response to World Health Organisation’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) investigation into possible carcinogenic use of bitumen in the construction and paving industries.

Paul has served as Chairman on a number of British Standards Institute and Comite Europeen de Normalisation (CEN) technical committees charged with creating harmonised European standards in the Roofing and Insulation industries. He has provided expert witness services in litigation cases and has presented technical papers at major conferences in the Americas and Europe.

Paul retired from his practice Newman Redfern Partnership and Newman Administration Services Ltd In 2015. He now lectures on a part time basis at Nottingham Trent University on its BSc (Hons) degree course in Architectural Technology.

He continues to be active in CIAT and is a firm advocate of Architectural Technologist’s ability to provide a diverse range of services to clients.

Architect Deependra Prashad was educated at the School of Planning and Architecture at New Delhi and did a Post Graduate Diploma in Urban Planning at IHS Institute Rotterdam. He did his Masters in Energy & Environmental Management at the Indian Institute of Technology in Delhi.

Deependra is the Principal Architect and Sustainable Design Consultant at Deependra Prashad, Architects and Planners (DPAP), a firm working on Architectural and Master Planning with a sustainable design bias.

Deependra has 23 years of experience in designing and delivering projects all over India and has won various awards and design competitions including INTBAU International Excellence Award, IBC Award for Excellence, HUDCO Design Award and CIDC Vishwakarma Award.

Besides engaging in his architectural practice, he teaches at School of Planning and Architecture (SPA) Delhi and has been actively involved with a range of academic institutions all over the country as a visiting faculty, Juror and Advisor. He has also been involved with training professionals at various government and non-governmental bodies including UN-Habitat, The Energy Resource Institute (TERI), Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE), Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), Central Public Works Department (CPWD), Housing and Urban Development Company (HUDCO), Human Settlement Management Institute (HSMI) and United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in the area of sustainable design and humane city planning and has lectured extensively in India and abroad.

Deependra is the founder member and coordinator of INTBAU India (The International Network of Traditional Building, Architecture and Urbanism), and is a former chair of its apex international body, the INTBAU – ICC. This network-based organisation works in the area of sustainable architecture and people friendly urbanism, which learns from tradition, and helps create humane, healthy and resource efficient buildings and cities.

He has also been a consultant for the Governemnt of India and NGOs on issues such as appropriate building materials, water harvesting and community-based planning for educational infrastructure development.

DPAP is accredited by The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) – Green Rating for Integrated Habitat Assessment (GRIHA) and Bureau of Energy Efficiency in the area of training in green buildings.

Deependra also writes in his free time and has contributed in various books, journals and magazine articles in the field of sustainable design.

Roger’s role focuses on establishing new International partners and maintaining contacts with the existing ones regarding mutual recognition of Architectural Technology diplomas, advanced diplomas, and bachelor degrees. He has been instrumental in forming Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) with like-minded institutions, double degrees, international transfers of diploma and advanced diploma students to VIA’s ATCM degree and student learning agreements.

Sushant holds a Masters Degree in Emergent Technologies & Design from the Architectural Association, London, he is was an architect at Zaha Hadid Architects, London and a Senior Editor at Arch2O.

He is the founder of rat[LAB] EDUCATION, which is an initiative to spread the idea of computation in design through independently–organised design workshops for profession and academia.

Sushant is a recipient of the MAK Schindler Award in Vienna/Los Angeles and was a finalist for AIA Emerging Leaders Fellowship in Chicago. His work is widely published and he has exhibited in London, Los Angeles, New York, Tokyo, San Francisco, Taipei, New Delhi, Mumbai among other places.

He has been shortlisted in New Delhi alongside five other architects for the ’20 under 35’ Exhibition at Alliance Francaise de Delhi, he was featured as iGen 2017 Top 50 Gen–Next Designers in India, and has been tagged as a ‘Rising Star’ by Surfaces Reporter India, among other features. Sushant joined the list of TEDx Speakers by speaking at TEDxGurugram on ‘Smart Cities need Smarter Design Education’. His second TEDxTalk was recently given at the prestigious IIT KGP where he inspired the young professionals to pursue their passions in Design and Technology. He was recently selected to be a MentorOfChange for Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) by NITI Aayog (National Institute for Transforming India), a policy think tank by Government of India where he shares his knowledge of design technologies to school students pursuing high school education to inculcate a culture of innovation and R&D in India.

He also started and currently heads Smart Labs – India’s first 6 month hybrid programme on Computational Design that blends studio learning and e–learning using a technology–oriented approach. His third TEDxTalk was delivered at IIT Bhubaneswar on Diffusion of Technology in Architecture recently.

Sushant is involved in bringing a change in design professions in India and many other countries, in practice as well as academia with his work of an experimental and pragmatic nature through his research cell rat[LAB]. Through rat[LAB]EDUCATION, he started the culture of ‘independently–organised’ education workshops in India which has now permeated into the architectural curriculum in an appropriate way. rat[LAB] cultivated a ‘laboratory–culture’ of design practice in India by demonstrating a successful and multi–scalar use of ‘computational technology’ in architectural design

James Yorkston is a Chartered Architectural Technologist and is the Chairperson of the CIAT Scotland East aspirATion group. James graduated from the Robert Gordon University (RGU), Aberdeen in 2014 with a first class Honours degree in the CIAT Accredited Architectural Technology course. James then went into practice at a local organisation throughout his final year – Inspired Design & Development Ltd where he works today.

Inspired Design & Development Ltd is a RICS regulated practice and specialises in altering houses and businesses, designing new buildings and offer building surveying services. Each project is tailored to the clients need from drawings to a fully managed design and project delivery services.

James has now worked in practice for 5 years, delivering high-end one-off dwelling houses, large equestrian buildings and office refurbishments. James is involved with initial client meetings right through to handing over projects at completion. He has a flair for visual presentation of proposals and master planning.

James has always aimed to be a Chartered member of CIAT and began working through the professional assessment membership route upon entering the industry once he graduated in 2014. In 2017 James achieved Chartered status.

In 2016 James became involved with the Scotland East aspirATion Group and in 2017 took on the Chairperson role for the group. To date a number of successful CPD events have been arranged, various committee meetings and trips have been attended and more recently James attended the CIAT AGM in Aarhus, Denmark as a voting delegate on behalf of the Scotland East Region.

Since graduating in 2014 James has kept a strong working relationship with the Robert Gordon University. James was invited into the university to present to the students on his experience through university, graduation and entering industry. He was also invited along to final year presentations and studio days. In 2018 James was employed as part of the ad hoc lecturing team at RGU for the delivery of the Architectural Technology course whilst being fully employed at Inspired Design & Development Ltd.